


you win

by circadians



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: !!!!, I couldn't resist, It's all fluff, M/M, SO, i am also severely sleep deprived and there is waaaay too much caffeine in my system rn, i am incapable of writing anything else, i am just so Soft™ for noren, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 04:10:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10506075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/circadians/pseuds/circadians
Summary: Jeno is bored. Renjun is helping out at a family cafe. It's cute.This may or may not be inspired by fan accounts from a certain White Day event... . .. .. .





	

Jeno was bored. It had reached that point during the school break where he was _actually_ entertaining the idea of going back to school. At least then he’d be doing something. He was only halfway through summer vacation but he had already conquered all the levels of all his video games, thrice, bugged all of his friends on skype because they had all ditched him to go overseas, and refreshed all his social media platforms way too many times. Needless to say, his sleep pattern was wrecked beyond repair as a result.

So that was why he was out exploring at 7:00 am. Ok, perhaps “exploring” was an exaggeration. His quaint, out-of-the-way town was so tiny he hadn’t bothered to leave the comforts of his house unless his mum had an errand for him to run. But after a particular night of watching trash TV shows and countless videos of adorable cats doing adorable things, Jeno found himself restless and in sudden need of fresh air.

So there he was, coat and sneakers on, and bed hair as tame as he could get it after days of lazing around. He was immediately greeted by the August breeze and started walking along the path he knew best - the route to school. With his earphones in, he just walked, smiling at some village faces who looked shocked to see him up and about so early. After making a round around his all-too-familiar campus and all the places he would’ve gone with his friends, he decided to walk to the playground and sat himself down on one of the benches.

“Well that was fun,” he said lifelessly to himself. “Now what?” he exhaled loudly to the sky with a pout.

After taking a moody, black and white shot of his dirty sneakers, embellished with a timestamp for his snapchat story, he began to make his way back home when a little street caught his eye. He hadn’t remembered ever going down it, recalling how it had always been dark and dingy. Yet, today, it looked almost inviting. With the warm yellow lights of one of the shop houses turned on, Jeno felt as though he was being lured into the unexplored street. He turned in to find a quiet, little café nestled in between much darker, more hostile shops. _Strange_ , he thought, _I would’ve known about this café. Must be new…_

He glanced at the blackboard out front with the day’s specials, adorned with intricate doodles and an adorable Moomin waving up at him. The smile that had unconsciously crept onto his face grew slightly wider as he was greeted by the tinkle of a bell and enveloped into the homely interior of the cafe. He took his time looking around the café as _Coffee & Tea_ appropriately blasted through his earphones. Distracted by the movie posters that hung on the walls and the overwhelming smell of baked goods, Jeno didn’t notice a moving mop of red hair behind the counter.

The owner of said mop looked at the unsuspecting newcomer with a mixture of caution and anxiety. _A customer? Already? Dad said I’d have to wait till at least 9 for my first one… oh well. Here goes nothing…_

“Morning,” he started weakly from the counter. “Would you like a drink?” That was the one line his dad had given him to greet customers with. It was probably meant to be said with more enthusiasm. Ah well. Fortunately for him, Jeno’s earphones still were blasting music as he continued obliviously admiring the movie poster collection. The scrawny boy tried again, this time gathering the courage to make his way over to tap two fingers on the taller’s shoulder.

“WOULD YOU LIKE A DRINK?” he repeated, this time with more force than he intended.

“SWEET MOTHER OF GOKU” Jeno jumped, yanking out his earphones and turning his head around fast enough to get whiplash, to find a boy around his age staring at him with his mouth slightly ajar from shock, revealing a little snaggletooth.

 _Cute,_ Jeno thought. _Wait, am I staring? Oh god, stop staring…STOP IT_. 

“Uhhh, hi there.” Jeno said, clearing his throat. “I was uh- just- uuhm, looking around… neat place you got here. Is it new? I don’t remember seeing it before and that’s strange because I’ve lived here my entire life I know this place like the back of my hand so you’d think I’d be aware of this place but I’ve never stepped foot here so this must be new are you- are you new here?” he finished, almost out of breath.

Jeno rambled when he was nervous. Apparently.

“Yeah, my family and I moved here a couple of days ago.” the boy responded softly, seemingly unfazed by Jeno’s nonsensical babbling while moving back to the counter. “May I ask again, would you like something to drink?”

“Uhhh do you have coke?” Jeno asked.

“Ah. No, sorry…I can make you some iced tea, though!” the boy said. “Would that be okay?”

Jeno nodded, surreptitiously wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans as he sat on one of the countertop seats. He watched silently as the artificial redhead pattered around the café while preparing his drink. “By the way, I don’t think I caught your name.”

The boy had just finished pouring ice cubes into the glass of tea, topped it off with a straw and placed it on a coaster in front of Jeno before extending a hand. “I’m Huang Renjun. Nice to meet you.” Jeno squinted slightly at the gesture before shaking his hand in amusement. “I’m Jeno…and you know, you don’t have to be so polite, it’s making me kind of uncomfortable.”

“This is my first proper job...I’m part of the service staff now, I thought it was expected of me,” Renjun said sheepishly. When Jeno barked out a laugh, Renjun felt some of the tension roll off his shoulders. “So, uh, what brings you here so early in the morning during the holidays?” he enquired, whipping himself an iced tea too.

“Well, I couldn’t sleep…then I had the sudden urge to walk around, so I did…and I found this place,” Jeno replied simply. “Some might call it fate,” he added spontaneously, wiggling his eyebrows.

_Where the hell did that come from?_

“Some might call it insomnia,” Renjun responded quickly, leaving Jeno momentarily dumbstruck.

“Fair enough…so, will you be attending my school after summer vacation?”

“Nope, I decided to screw getting an education when I moved here, y’know, to really focus on pursuing my life-long dream of becoming a stripper. Working here will just get me started financially, baby steps and all that. Don’t worry though I’ve got it all figured out. Plus, my parents are fully supportive of it, yeah they've got _really_ high expectations,” Renjun leaned on the countertop, resting his chin on his knuckles with a smile playing around his lips.

"I'd like the polite you back please," Jeno said.

“I thought formalities made you uncomfortable,” he rebutted.

“And I thought you were part of the service staff,” Jeno fired back.

At that moment, the bell jingled again as a pair of middle-aged ladies walked in with a similar amount of bliss on their faces as Jeno had had a couple of minutes ago. “…Alright. You win," said Renjun. "I’ll apologise. I’m sorry I’m just better versed in the sarcasm than you are,” he said with a shrug, smiling widely as he slid away from the counter to attend to the new customers.

“Apology accepted. You can make up for it tomorrow!” Jeno said, heading to the door.

“Tomorrow…?” Renjun faltered, turning around in confusion.

“See you then, Huang Renjun.” Jeno called over his shoulder with a wave.

 

**Author's Note:**

> hi there! congratulations for making it to the end! 
> 
> I am by no means a writer but noren have been absolutely adorable lately I had to write something!! with that being said, i have no idea when the next chapter will be up... i swear i have a vague idea of where this is going....
> 
> leave kudos and a comment if you're feeling kind xx


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